Just a heads up to everyone - I am actually on holiday right now as I post this chapter to you - I wrote most of this chapter on the plane. And I will be on holiday until a week on Sunday so I may miss the regular Friday update depending on how much time I get for writing, but if I do, I will make up time after I return. In other words, there will be two chapters in the next two weeks as usual, just that the first one might not be on the right day.
Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 9:- Phoenix Meet Fairy
Tonks' brain was absolutely reeling from the information overload she was receiving. Lisanna seemed to be the one doing most of the talking and Gray and Juvia both seemed quite happy to let her - it seemed she was a better storyteller than they were. But everything she was saying… it was so much to take in.
More and more, the Metamorphmagus believed that this trio of incredible youngsters really were from another world. Everything Lisanna was saying jarred with everything Tonks knew about her own world, from the fact that the Muggles in their world not only knew about magic but asked for help from it with the magic users more than eager to oblige, to talking dragons, to the guild system - both light and dark - and everything else like it.
It was unfathomable.
Yet she didn't doubt a word of it.
Yet at the same time she was constantly asking herself how two separate worlds, both with magic in the air, could be so utterly and completely different from one another even without delving into the differences between magic itself. It seemed that magic for this lot wasn't about learning an assortment of different spells and theories that could help them accomplish multiple different tasks like levitating something to a high shelf, cheering somebody up, turning cutlery into crockery or anything like that. There were dozens and dozens of different magical types for them, each with a specific focus. In fact, when Tonks had demonstrated a little transfiguration by turning one of her cushions into a teddy bear, all three of them had found that astounding.
"This is all so much to take in," she rubbed her forehead slightly, leaning back in her chair thoughtfully. "You guys are… freaking mental. And what the heck am I supposed to do with you now? I can't very well let you stay here eating through my food but can I just let you go off and do your own thing. Nobody in this world has seen anything like you - you could be a one-way freight train to disaster under the wrong circumstances."
"And yet we cannot stay even if we wanted to," Gray pointed out. "We've got friends to find. And trust me, if we don't find Natsu before he goes and blows something up there will definitely be a one-way freight train to disaster."
"Blows something up?" Tonks blinked before she gasped and sat up. "The bank! I forgot to ask you about the bank!"
"Ask us about the what?" Juvia frowned. "What have riversides got to do with any of this?"
"Riv… You guys don't even have banks in… well, never mind. It's not important. All you need to know is that in this world, banks are places where people go to keep their money safe when they're not using it."
"Store their money? That's an utterly ludicrous idea. Why not just keep it in a safe or something like any sane person would?" Gray scoffed.
"Well, it doesn't matter. It's hard to explain the concept of a bank but the point is, yesterday in a place called Portree miles and miles and miles to the north of here some young men broke into a bank and tried to steal the money there…"
"Yep, see, stupid idea," Gray confirmed.
"Well people's personal money wouldn't have been… oh why am I defending Muggle banks anyway? The point is people broke it to try and rob the place except they were very quickly stopped by a man with extremely strange magic who destroyed half the bank in the process. My boss, Scrimgeour, and the rest of the Aurors are trying to find this guy before he exposes magic to the Muggles. Does that sound like he could be this Natsu guy? The man what looked like a freaking tornado out of his mouth!"
"Sounds very Natsu to me," Lisanna beamed slightly. "What did he look like?"
"Rather tall guy, strong arms, very long very messy black hair… oh and he seemed to turn his arm into some kind of club as well to smack the robbers with."
"Oh, that's not Natsu," Gray replied. "But it sounds like someone else we know."
"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia breathed. "It must have been Gajeel-kun."
"Who's Gajeel-kun?" Tonks blinked, not missing the fact that while Lisanna still had a look of relief on her face, she had ever-so-slightly deflated at this news that it was not Natsu.
"Gajeel is one of those Dragon Slayers we told you about," Gray nodded. "The Iron Dragon Slayer. He's not really got Natsu's penchant for blowing things up but the guy's got just about as much subtlety as him in battle. As in, none at all."
"Oh, don't pretend you don't break things all the time while on jobs yourself, Gray," Lisanna rolled her eyes slightly. "And you've taken your shirt off again."
"DAMNIT!"
"Gray-sama… stop showing your abs to all the other girls!"
"Ooookay," Tonks replied, as she pushed herself to her feet and stretched slightly. "Well at least you know that there's someone else you know in this world now. I suppose that can be your next step - tracking this guy down before he breaks something else maybe. Though how you'll find him I don't know. But anyway, I really need some sleep. I've been up for over twenty-four hours now so I could do with some shut-eye. Feel free to kip wherever you like. Heck, Gray and Juvia you can snuggle up on the sofa together for all I care…"
"THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!" Gray immediately bellowed with a violent jerk while Juvia went red as a cherry and clapped her hands over her cheeks, murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like:- "Aah… Juvia and Gray-sama… snuggling together… Gray-sama could use Juvia's chest as a pillow… and…" before Lisanna suddenly covered her mouth before she could get too into it, hoping Gray hadn't heard that.
But he had. And he also hadn't put his shirt back on yet.
"Riiight…" Tonks scratched her arm, eyes flicking to each of her sudden houseguests, guessing she'd trodden on some very awkward territory there from the way Juvia was looking down at her boots and Gray was determinedly looking anywhere but at her. "Well… as was, er… saying, you can kip anywhere you want - sorry I don't really have anywhere specific but I'm not exactly used to houseguests. Anyway, I need to…"
She stopped, blinking, when she spotted something which in all her excitement and amazement before she had totally failed to notice - there was an unopened envelope sitting on her table not far from her open window. She immediately crossed over to it and ripped it open, pulling out a hastily scrawled note inside:-
Emergency meeting at nine o'clock tonight. Be there if you can make it.
She recognised the writing as the relatively neat quillmanship of Remus Lupin - even though she hadn't know the guy for very long he was one of the neatest of the Order members despite his shabby appearance. Regardless, her head snapped up to stare at the clock on the wall and yelped when she spotted that it was now eight past nine, meaning she was already late.
"Something wrong?" Lisanna asked.
"No, nothing's wrong but I've just learned I'm late for something important!" Tonks immediately hurried to her fireplace and scooped up some Floo Powder. "Do whatever you want. Hopefully I'll be back soon."
"Where you going?" Gray demanded.
"Secret," Tonks replied as she stepped into the fireplace, swung around and cried, "12 Grimmauld Place!"
All three of the Fairy Tail members yelled as Tonks was immediately engulfed by green flames the moment she dropped the Floo Powder to her feet. Juvia acted immediately and flung a wall of water in an attempt to douse the flames, but just as it splashed over Tonks she suddenly vanished, as if she'd been whipped down into the flames and out of sight.
"…What… just happened?" Gray muttered after a short blanket of silence.
"Um… I'm guessing some kind of magical transportation of this world," Lisanna murmured. "We used to be able to transport the entire guild from place to place in Edolas. Well… Levy did."
"She could have warned us though," Gray sighed.
Juvia picked up the note that Tonks had found and read it through herself but couldn't glean anything from it. "Juvia wonders where she went," she murmured.
Because the flames of a Floo Powder transport were not really hot and did not burn, Tonks was instantly soaked by Juvia's water blast and did not dry out until she spun out of the fireplace in a sodden heap into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Spitting out water and murmuring, "Thanks Juvia…" to herself, she looked up slowly through matted hair and saw that just about the entire Order were already assembled and already sitting around the long dining room table before her. Dumbledore was stood at the head, flanked by McGonagall and Snape.
And every head in the room turned towards her as she appeared, and many eyebrows were raised at the sight of her soaked form.
"Er… wotcha guys," Tonks grinned a little lopsidedly at them.
"You alright there, cousin?" Sirius chuckled, getting up to help Tonks to her feet. "Is there some kind of monsoon in a very small, very concentrated part of London or did you decide to go for a dip in the Thames?"
"Neither," Tonks wiped water out of her eyes. "I could tell you what happened, but then I'd have to kill you."
Well really, how was she supposed to tell anyone what she'd learned that day without sounding like a total whackjob?
Sirius snickered and waved his wand, drying Tonks off instantly and letting her take a seat next to him. "Sorry I'm late," Tonks said. "It's been a long day."
"It's quite alright, Miss Tonks," Dumbledore nodded from his place at the head. "You have not missed anything. I was just telling everyone present that there has been a sudden and highly unexpected turn of events which might affect the whole magical world, but I had not got round to explaining what that is yet."
"Oh, okay. Well… what's the news then?" Tonks asked.
"It is quite extraordinary," Dumbledore addressed the room. "And I would not be surprised if, when I have explained it, some of you in this room thought that perhaps I need an extended trip to St. Mungos to have my sanity checked as a good deal of the rest of the Wizarding World seems to now. You may choose whether you believe me or not, but what I say is true."
This caused some muttering and apprehensive looks through the room, but this was quickly cut off from a thunking noise that indicated Alastor Mad-Eye Moody had decided to bang his wooden leg against the ground. It was rare to have his artificial blue eye and his regular eye focused in the same place but now they were both riveted on Dumbledore.
"We're all ears, Professor," he growled. "Tell us."
"Thank you, Alastor," Dumbledore nodded. "Perhaps some of you may know of the odd events that have been occurring these last couple of days. For those of you that do not know all the details, allow me to connect the dots but listing them:- range meteor showers, a large glowing and impenetrable sphere found in a field, an attack on a couple of dragons in the Hebrides by an unknown assailant and a Muggle attempt to rob a Muggle bank foiled by a single man wielding odd magic that took down half the place. I am year to tell you that all these events are connected in a way that I could never have predicted."
"There's more, Professor," Kingsley spoke up. "I just got in from a meeting with Scrimgeour and he was telling me of a strange attack on the town of Brockenhurst earlier today. Nymphadora, you were there were you not?"
"Don't call me that, Shacklebolt," Tonks glared sharply at him, before hesitating and saying, "But yes… yes, I was…"
"Did you see them?" Kingsley asked.
"See who?" Arthur Weasley questioned.
"The report that led to the Auror response spoke of an attack by an unknown species of large birds, presumed to be magical in origin," Kingsley replied. "But when they arrived, many Aurors claimed to have seen three young people, one man and two women, using magics that they'd never experienced before. But they disappeared before they could be taken into custody. Scrimgeour is pitching a fit, trying to find these people before they do any more damage. Tonks, did you see them?"
"…I did," Tonks nodded slowly. "Do you… do you know something about them, Professor?"
"I may do," Dumbledore was staring at Tonks now over the top of his glasses. "But… something tells me… you may already know almost as much as I do. Would I be correct in that assumption, Miss Tonks?"
"Well… what do you know, Professor?" Tonks queried, and the room was now switching focus between them like watching a tennis match - Mad-Eye being the only one to not move his head.
"I know that these individuals are not a strange new danger devised by Voldemort."
"Yep, I know that too."
"I know that they arrived in that meteor shower."
"That I didn't know but go on."
"And I know that they are from an entirely different universe."
"Oh yeah, that I definitely know."
There was a pause before a sudden clamour started throughout the room with seemingly everyone trying to ask questions or at least make themselves heard at once.
"Not from this universe?"
"What are you talking about?"
"How can this be?"
"But that's impossible!"
"How can you possibly know that?"
"Even if that's true are they dangerous?"
But Dumbledore cut off their questions by simply raising his hand, before he nodded towards Tonks. "Why don't we let Tonks tell her story and then I shall tell mine. Let's see how much they match."
Tonks rubbed the back of her head awkwardly - she had not expected that she'd have to tell the Order about this quite so quickly. But considering the circumstances it probably wasn't so surprising. So she quickly outlined everything, from the moment she'd met Juvia to how Lisanna had saved her life, how she'd decided to break regulation and harbour these three largely innocent people until she could figure out what the heck to do about them, and then some of the things that they'd told her. Lots of people kept trying to interrupt to ask a question, but whenever they did Dumbledore just indicated for them to be quiet and let Tonks go on until she saw fit to stop.
When she finally did, Dumbledore similarly unveiled his story, how Murcus had brought Wendy to Hogwarts, how he'd been given permission to look into her memories and seen some incredible things in there, and how he'd left her with Aberforth so that she wouldn't get into further trouble while they tried to figure out how to help her.
When they'd both finished, the entire room was silent for a good long time. If most of them were honest with themselves, they actually might have thought Dumbledore had cracked if he'd appeared before them to tell them that alone. But with both Dumbledore and Tonks relaying such similar information all at once… surely there was no way they could have both gone loopy at the same time.
"So… these three are currently at your residence, Miss Tonks?" Dumbledore questioned.
"Yeah, I told them they could hang there for a while. Assuming they haven't up and left while I've been here then they're still there."
"I'm sure you can guess that I'll be very interested to meet them."
"Shall I bring them here?"
"Shortly, if you would."
"But this is… this is just… so crazy," Molly was wringing her hands slightly. "How can this have possibly happened? It defies… all logic…"
"There is a prevailing opinion actually, in Muggle scientists, that there could be many thousands of universes out there across a gigantic omniverse," Dumbledore replied. "It seems that finally another one of those universes may have made contact with our own in a way that neither of our worlds anticipated."
"I think this is extremely exciting," Arthur was grinning broadly. "Think about it - an entire new world. An entire new civilisation… with its own magic, its own history, its own people… think of all the fascinating things we could learn."
"Fascinating is one word for it," Moody muttered, glowering slightly. "What I want to know is just how dangerous this lot are."
"By what I have seen, Mad-Eye," Tonks snorted. "They would make extremely dangerous enemies."
"That is a conclusion I too have drawn," said Dumbledore.
"Then perhaps more to the point, what if You-Know-Who finds out about them?" Moody thumped his hand down on the table slightly. "What if he tries to convert them to his side somehow, make them fight against the rest of us? If these guys are really so dangerous that could be the very last thing we need."
"I don't think this lot would join up with You-Know-Who," Tonks shook her head. "I may not know them very well but I definitely got the feeling every one of them are strong believers in fighting for freedom and protecting the innocents."
"Again, I agree, especially from what I have gleaned from the mind of young Wendy," Dumbledore announced. "Fairy Tail, as they call themselves, have accomplished incredible feats in the name of stopping evil in their own world. I have little doubt that Voldemort…" the room winced almost collectively… "Could not convince them to come to his cause willingly. In fact, they already fought against and defeated a group of people who wished to create a world solely for magical people back in their world. But that does not mean Voldemort could not find other ways to pull them to his side of the fight. I don't know how successful he might be, but it would be unwise to underestimate him."
"What are you saying, Professor?" Emmeline Vance asked. "What course of action should we take?"
"Why, we must do all we can to help Fairy Tail of course. We must find them and bring them together, protect them from being found and exploited by Voldemort. The Order of the Phoenix is committed to stopping Voldemort in any way it can. And that makes this now one of our highest priorities."
"You think they could make good new allies for us?" Kingsley supplied.
"It's very likely, but that is not the main reason for this course of action. It is not only about denying Voldemort this extra firepower. It is simply the right thing to do, is it not?"
There were still many in the room who doubted the validity of what Dumbledore was saying, but on that point every one of them agreed.
"Excellent. Perhaps it is time that we met some of our new… well, perhaps we cannot call them friends yet but you get my drift…" Dumbledore suggested. "Sirius, perhaps you would be willing to allow some extra house guests to stay here for a while? It might be more convenient for them to hide here than at Tonks' apartment."
Sirius looked positively ecstatic, which made Remus smile slightly when he saw it. These Fairy Tail members had become wanted fugitives through no fault of their own, much like Sirius himself. The poor man was practically under house arrest since he could not leave without risking getting found and caught by either Death Eaters or the Ministry, which meant he was often alone in the house while the others were completing Order business. Alone except for his surly elf Kreacher, a screeching portrait of his own mother and a hippogriff that is. The idea of suddenly having a house full of other, interesting people had to be the best news Sirius had had for a while. Especially now that his godson had headed off back to school once again.
"Naturally they can stay," Sirius barked, grin spreading from ear to ear. "Sounds like this lot might really liven the place up some."
"Yeah and you can definitely provide them with better food here than I can in the little dump I call home," Tonks laughed.
"Very well then," Dumbledore conjured a piece of paper and a Self-Inking quill from the air and quickly scrawled something down on the paper and then whisking it to Tonks. "Miss Tonks, if you would be so kind."
Tonks glanced down at the paper which read:-
The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London.
Tonks understood what this was for - Grimmauld Place had been placed under the Fidelius Charm - the ultimate way of keeping people hidden since the place couldn't be found by anyone unless one specific Secret Keeper revealed its location. Dumbledore was the Secret Keeper for this place, and Gray, Juvia and Lisanna wouldn't be able to get in here without him telling them about it in some way, and writing would do it.
"Be right back," Tonks leapt to her feet, caught her toes on the leg of the table and fell to the floor with a crash. Amidst the sudden laughter from the room, she scrambled to her feet, refusing to be embarrassed by it considering it happened all the time, and hurrying over to the fireplace.
"You sure that Tonks will mind us eating this?" Lisanna asked, even as she reached into the packet again.
"Why not?" Gray asked, eyeing one of the Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans that he'd found in the cupboard. "She said we can take anything we wanted."
"Juvia thinks this is quite the remarkable little snack," Juvia laughed as she popped another bean into her mouth experimentally, brightening as she added, "Oh, strawberry. Erza-san would have liked that one."
Gray bit his own in half, chewing thoughtfully before he laughed and said, "Well this one tastes a little like roast lamb."
"Eugh, this one tastes like plastic," Lisanna grimaced as she swallowed it quickly, before picking out another one and licking it briefly. "And… I'm not even sure what this one tastes of but its not bad."
"EEK! Chili! Chili!" Juvia gasped as she took a bite out of another one. "Wow, it's even spicy."
"Let's try this one then," Gray tossed another one up in the air and caught it deftly in his mouth… before blanking and hacking it out across the floor. "OH GOSH! THAT ONE TASTED LIKE FREAKING BLOOD!"
Juvia and Lisanna shivered slightly, suddenly deciding they might not be so eager to try any of the rest of the beans. And it was at this point that Tonks appeared in a burst of green flame that startled them all, causing Juvia to knock the table and send the beans flying as the packet tipped over.
Tonks blinked, before laughing, "I'm guessing you don't have that back where you come from, huh?"
"Not that we know of," Gray wiped his tongue slightly, his hand on his shirt as if unconsciously thinking about taking it off again. "Eugh, that last one was rank. Anyway, you going to tell us where you went?"
"Nope, I'm going to show you," Tonks replied. "I've got some good news for you. I know where another one of your friends are. Wendy, I think her name is."
"Wendy-san?!" Juvia leapt to her feet, the other two close behind her. "Is she alright? Is she injured?"
"She's fine and she's safe," Tonks assured them. "She was found by Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of that school that I told you about - Hogwarts. He called a meeting between me and a lot of my associates earlier but it turns out he wanted to tell us about you lot. Since he already knew about you guys from what Wendy's told him, I told them about you and now they want to meet you."
"Wait a minute," Gray narrowed his eyes. "I thought you weren't going to turn us in to this Ministry place."
"I haven't. I told the Order of the Phoenix about you. It's a special order which is devoted to protecting people from the threats of Dark Wizards. The Ministry has nothing to do with it, except for the fact that some people work for both, like me… I guess you could say the Order is the closest thing we have in this world to a guild. Or maybe Hogwarts is… I dunno. But they're really interested to meet you lot. You wanna come?"
"If they know where Wendy is then certainly," Lisanna nodded immediately.
"Juvia agrees."
Gray still looked a little disgruntled, but he nodded his head and muttered, "Sold."
"Great. Quickly you guys read this paper," she passed Dumbledore's note to Lisanna. "And then we can go via the Floo Powder."
"The what now?" Lisanna asked as she passed the note to Juvia.
"The… fire travel."
"Oh, now hold on," Gray backed away slightly before Juvia could give him the note. "No way in heck am I doing that. I'm an Ice Mage. Ice and fire do not mix under any circumstances."
"You and Natsu-san make a good team," Juvia pointed out.
"No, we don't," Gray denied stubbornly.
"Gray, it's fine. It's magical fire - it doesn't burn or anything. It's a bit uncomfortable but compared to Apparition its a walk in the park," Tonks assured him.
"I'm sure it will be fine," Lisanna smiled. "How does it work?"
"Just do what I'm about to do," Tonks replied, stepping back into the fire with a handful of powder once again and calling, "Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!" All three of them flinched as the fire whooshed up around her once more, then stared at the empty fireplace where she'd once been.
"…Looks simple enough," Juvia murmured, passing Gray the note. "Juvia guesses we can try it…" she trailed off slightly when Lisanna started giggling behind her hand. "What's so funny, Lisanna-san?"
"Oh nothing really," Lisanna snickered. "I was just thinking we may have found a method of transportation that Natsu might actually like."
Even Gray laughed at that.
Tonks re-appeared to find an expectant room and this time she managed not to topple over as she stepped out of the fireplace. "They should be coming," she said. "Any moment now."
But it still took a full minute of bated breath before suddenly there was a flash of green fire and Lisanna yelped as she tipped out of the fireplace. Tonks lunged to catch her, but this time she did end up tripping over and crashed into the falling Lisanna, both of them falling the the floor in a tangle of limbs.
"Uuuhh… maybe I was wrong," Lisanna muttered as she tried to extricate herself, rubbing her head ruefully. "I don't think even the fire would stop Natsu from getting motion sick from that." But then she pushed herself up and noticed the room staring at her with wide eyes. She blushed slightly at all the attention and murmured, "Um… hi…"
"Welcome to Twelve Grimmauld Place, Lisanna Strauss," Dumbledore spread his arms wide. "Please feel free to make yourself comfortable."
"Are you Albus Dumbledore?" Lisanna asked, curiously.
"Indeed I am. My condolences for finding yourself lost in another dimension like this. Hopefully I will be able to provide some answers to the questions you seek. But before you ask, no, I do not know where your brother and sister are, I'm afraid. But I can assure you now that they are here in this world somewhere, along with all the rest of your guild that were on Tenroujima when Acnologia attacked."
Most of that passed right over the heads of the Order members, but Lisanna looked torn between feeling relief and concern. "Oh… well… thank you for telling me. At least… at least that clears a couple of things up."
Moments later Juvia arrived, looking rather dizzy and a short time after that Gray was there. The three Fairy Tail members stood together by the fireplace, staring out at the amassed Order members who stared right back, before Sirius broke the silence by asking, "Why don't you have shirt on, kid?"
"What the… where did it go?!" Gray yelled. "I'm sure I was wearing it when I stepped into the fireplace!"
"…Did you actually strip in the middle of a Floo Powder transportation?" Tonks asked, slightly deadpan. "Great, that probably means by shirt's lying in some stranger's fireplace now."
Juvia immediately stepped in front of Gray and glowered in the direction of Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones, while Lisanna ran a hand down her face slightly. Severus Snape, meanwhile, turned to Dumbledore and asked, "These children are the ones who have fought incredible battles in their world, Headmaster. Forgive my scepticism but they don't seem to be… all that disciplined."
"Indeed they are not, Severus. But if you had seen what I saw, you would know that I am quite serious. Regardless, greetings to you all, Fairy Tail. You are most welcome here at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and we would like to extend an invitation for you to stay here for a while. This place can be your new home should you so desire, perhaps until a way can be found to return you to your true home."
"Thank you for your generosity, Dumbledore-san?" Juvia bowed her head.
"Where's Wendy?" Gray cut to the chase instead.
"Your friend is currently staying at my brother's house, and we will take you to see her soon. But first, we would like to talk to you about a few things."
"What kind of things?" Lisanna asked.
"Mostly about what we hope to happen in the future. But for now, it might be best to start with introductions. After all, you may be stuck with a few of us for some time."
"And I for one would quite like to see what these kids are capable of doing," Mad-Eye cut in, his eye flicking from one of the three to the others in rapid succession, and there was a chorus of agreement from around the table.
"This isn't going to become a pattern, is it?" Gray sighed. "Us constantly having to explain who we are to people and stuff?"
"Probably," Tonks shrugged. "But Professor Dumbledore and I already told them everything so I guess this time all they want is the demonstrations."
"Well, in that case, I guess I'll go first," Lisanna shrugged and her body shimmered briefly and suddenly she was in her cat form, tail waving and paws raised, claws extending and retracting briefly.
"Hah. That's nothing," Sirius grinned and suddenly got out of his chair. "Watch this, kid. This is how you turn into an animal." And suddenly his body shrank and a very large, very shaggy black dog was standing in his place. Sirius shook himself and wagged his tail, tongue lolling out as he gave Lisanna what could only be described as puppy dog eyes.
"Wow, that's pretty good," Lisanna leaned down to pet Sirius' head for a moment with one paw, an action which caused the huge dog to flatten his ears back and his tail to beat backwards and forwards even harder while Lisanna seemed to concentrate on him intensely for a moment… before suddenly her body shimmered again and there was an exact copy of the black dog standing in her place. This definitely made the room gasp - turning into animals for them was a long and difficult process and each person could only turn into one animal after they mastered it, but they'd just seen Lisanna turn into two before their eyes. Sirius himself seemed momentarily bewildered before he barked and the two dogs were suddenly gambolling around one another, until it became quite impossible to tell which was which.
"If we might get this back on track to a proper meeting that might be good," Snape drawled distastefully. One of the dogs turned to growl at him before morphing back into Sirius, who continued to glare.
"Talk to my guests like that again under my roof and I'll boot you out on the…"
"Sirius," Dumbledore said warningly.
The Animagus halted but gave Snape another sour look before he took his seat. "Anyway, that was pretty neat, girl."
"Thanks," Lisanna said, without changing back into a human - and that really threw them all for a loop, even Sirius. No Animagus had ever been able to talk while in animal form before. "But my magic's not that powerful compared to most of the others, I'll admit. Gray and Juvia are both much stronger than I am."
Juvia quickly took her turn to demonstrate by turning to water and sweeping in several laps around the room in liquid form before shooting over the table and reforming in the middle and sending small plumes of water out the filled several empty glasses at once. Gray then created several large ice sculptures and then whipped a couple of ice swords into his hands. Both of these acts suitably impressed the room as a whole, but before a flurry of questions about how they learned to do that could start flying, Dumbledore beat the rest to the punch.
"Your magic is quite exquisite and quite clearly comes in many different forms. But let me ask you something. When I viewed your world in Wendy's memories, it seemed to me that anyone in your world can learn how to use magic. Is that true?"
"In a way," Gray nodded. "Gramps, that is Master Makarov, always said that it takes real conviction, heart and belief to be able to learn magic but as long as you have that anyone can do it."
"I see. That is very different from our world. In our world, you either have magic or you don't. It is as simple as that. It's actually down to something called 'genetics' as the Muggles call it. The ability to use magic is built into the body of a witch or wizard. But I also saw something else about you - your magic can run out if you use too much and you have to wait for it to return naturally. How does that work?"
"Juvia can answer that one. In our world, all people have a special container within their bodies that, if they learn magic, allows their body to absorb a special energy from the air called Eternanos and convert it into magical power. As we use magic we use up some of the Eternanos in our bodies but we replenish it automatically afterwards."
"Wait… do we have Eternanos in this world!?" Gray suddenly asked, sharply. "What if we run out of magic here?"
"We did not have Eternanos before you arrived," Dumbledore replied. "But we do now as a large amount of it was transported here at the same time that you were. But it seems my theory may be correct. We of this world cannot learn the types of magic that you wield because we do not have this Eternanos absorbing container in our bodies. And you, similarly, cannot learn the magic we have because you do not have the genes that we have in our bodies that determines who can and cannot use it. I would assume that if one of us gave you a wand it would not respond to you no matter how much you screamed out a spell. Though perhaps it might be able to channel your own magic somehow, but a wand would more likely limit you than help you."
There was an air of disappointment around the room at that - a great many of them had been extremely interested in the idea of trying to learn what they had just seen the Fairy Tail mages do.
"Wait…" Lisanna turned back into a human. "How do you know Eternanos was transported here with us? How much do you know?"
"Everything I know I learned from Wendy," Dumbledore replied. "And everything she knows she learned from the founder of your guild, Mavis Vermilion herself."
"EEEHHHHHHH!?" screamed all three of them simultaneously. Dumbledore laughed and quickly explained everything, starting with how Mavis had helped save them from Acnologia in the first place with her Fairy Sphere right up until the point where all the miniature Fairy Spheres had been scattered around somewhere at random.
"Damn," Gray murmured after a while. "I'm not sure whether that's made things easier or harder. But at least Wendy is okay, and the three Exceed are out there somewhere."
"I still can't believe it," Charlie shook his head slightly - Dumbledore had already told him about the identity of the big black cat that had been seen with the dragons, as well as Wendy's involvement in injuring them. "All this stuff about talking cats is one thing but humans wielding Dragon magic that they learned from talking dragons… what I wouldn't give to meet one."
"Not as much as they would considering their dragon parents abandoned them seven years… or I suppose thirteen years now… for an unknown reason," Lisanna pointed out.
"Maybe but even so… talking dragons… it's like in the old myths. People used to say dragons could talk in the old days when Merlin and King Arthur were still alive, but nobody really believes that anymore."
"Well, regardless, we may already know where some of your other friends are," Kingsley voiced. "The Ministry now has access to one of those golden spheres which was found in a field yesterday before being transported to the Department of Mysteries. If that is indeed a small Fairy Sphere, which it surely must be, some of your friends may be contained inside."
"What!?" Gray shouted. "The Ministry has some of our members!? Why didn't you say so before! Where are they - we have to go and help them!"
"And we shall," Remus assured them. "In whatever way we can, but if I've understood everything correctly - and I'm not totally sure that I have - your friends are safe for the moment. That Sphere should keep out any attempts to break into it if it truly is impenetrable."
"That is true, but let's not forget," McGonagall chipped in. "These Spheres are supposedly on a random time limit as to when they will lower on their own. I almost dread to think what will happen if some of these Fairy Tail members find themselves in Ministry custody the moment they wake up. They won't know what's going on - it could lead to things getting ugly very fast."
"That's assuming that there actually are Fairy Tail humans in there and not some type of animal like there was with those Clipper birds," Mad-Eye noted.
"You will help us break them out, won't you?" Lisanna pleaded. "Both the birds and the Sphere? If Tenroujima really is in this world then the birds should be taken back there to where they belong."
"It will be difficult to do that," Kingsley pressed his fingers together and bit his lip. "The Ministry is supposed to be our ally but the situation right now is rather difficult. We will need to find a way to help you without exposing ourselves and our activities to them. Just violently breaking them out would only make things worse."
"Nevertheless, we shall do our best," Dumbledore agreed. "In that, and in searching for your other missing companions. But, there is one more vital piece of information that I feel you must know about our world. From what I saw in your world, you have something akin to a Dark Lord, correct? The man named Zeref?"
All three Fairy Tail members paled suddenly. "Oh gosh!" Lisanna clapped her hands to her mouth. "That's right! After Acnologia and this mess we… we forgot about Zeref! What could he have been doing to our world in the six years we've been away?"
A dead silence fell over the room as the Fairy Tail mages all looked at one another in horror. Gray in particular was clenching his fist and looking like he was fighting an urge to try breaking the dining room table in half. He knew better than the others the horror that Zeref's work could cause - images of the destruction that Deliora had caused to his town and countless others flashing through his mind.
Eventually Dumbledore picked up the thread. "Perhaps when you meet with the ghost of Mavis you can ask her - I got the impression she has an idea of what's been happening during the time you were frozen away. And I will put as many resources as I can into finding a way for you to return to your home as I said. But I must ask you to bring your mind away from Zeref for now, and learn about our own Dark Lord. We call him Voldemort. And right now, I fear what he may do as and when he finally gets word that you and your friends exist."
After another explanation about Voldemort and his actions, during which the name Harry Potter was dragged up several times, the three Fairy Tail members digested it in silence for a moment. Then, "Juvia thinks this Harry Potter sounds… like a brave soul."
"That he most definitely is," Sirius practically swelled with pride.
"And you think that this Voldemort could come after us, do you?" Gray asked, frowning slightly when everyone flinched when he said the name, but he'd already seen that happen quite a few times when Dumbledore had been talking and now knew why they did it (though he found it rather stupid).
"Almost certainly. To try and kill you if nothing else."
"Let him try," Gray snarled. "Fairy Tail does not go down easily."
"Indeed," Lisanna nodded firmly. "No matter what obstacles stand before us, Fairy Tail will overcome them."
"If this Dark Lord threatens Gray-sama Juvia will punch his lights out!" Juvia hissed. Gray clenched his teeth and grunted awkwardly but otherwise, to his credit, made no comment.
"I'm sure we'd all of us like to see that," Tonks laughed.
"We realise that you have no connection to this world and therefore no real need to help us," Arthur Weasley spoke up. "But… considering your unique abilities, if you ever did want to lend us a hand in our fight against him I think that I speak for everyone here when I say we would be… beyond grateful for your assistance."
"It will be dangerous though," Lupin informed them. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters are not to be taken lightly, even to people with your amazing talents."
Gray turned to Juvia and Lisanna, locking eyes with both of them in turn. No words were said between them, but there seemed to be some kind of silent communication going on between them, as one by one their faces shifted into firm, resolute and determined expressions. Gray then turned back around to address the room as a whole.
"We're grateful for your help. Really we are. And since we're strangers in this world we'll listen to you, and for now we'll let you call the shots. But let me make one thing clear - we're not part of this Order. We're your allies certainly, and I daresay there's a good chance we'll even be friends, but at the end of the day if we, Fairy Tail, decide to do something we feel is in our best interests, we're going to damn well do it. Whether you like it or not."
The Order collectively looked to Dumblefore for his verdict, but the Headmaster nodded. "I understand. You are not of our world - we have no right to tell you what to do. Though I hope that it won't come to that. We are as invested in your safety as you are."
"Good to know," Gray nodded. "Just making it clear that we're not your servants or subordinates. But, that said, as long as we are here in this universe…" he slammed his hand down onto the table and froze a large portion to leave several long, jagged lines of ice across its surface. "We'll do whatever we have to do to protect it and kick this Voldemort guy to the curb."
"Absolutely!" Juvia cheered.
"As if we'd do anything else," Lisanna grinned. "And trust me when I say, the rest of our guild will all agree on that score."
"And you haven't seen what we're really capable of yet," Gray smirked.
Grins and other types of wide smile were breaking out all over the room now but Dumbledore merely smiled contentedly. "Thank you," he said simply. "It is much that we ask of you but… thank you for agreeing to help us."
"Not a problem," Lisanna nodded. "But, when can we see Wendy?"
"Shortly," Dumbledore nodded. "Sirius, why don't you show them to their new rooms for now while we wrap up the rest of the meeting and then as soon as its over I will take you to see Wendy."
"Sounds good to Juvia," the rain woman smiled.
"Come on then, I'll take you upstairs," Sirius got up and began to lead them towards the door.
"I'll go with," Tonks declared, hurrying after them and falling in step beside Lisanna. "Wow, now I really know I made the right decision in not turning you over to the Ministry. You guys are freaking awesome, you know that?"
"Thank you," Lisanna blushed. "But trust me, wait until you see the really powerful members of our guild."
"I very much look forward to meeting them all," Sirius voiced from the front of the group as he took them out into the hallway. "Um… you'll have to excuse the decor of the house. It's not that pleasant. Suffice to say the people that used to live here were, not the best people in the world and redecorating is taking forever."
"It certainly is rather creepy," murmured Juvia, before a sudden crash behind her made her jump.
"Oh, Tonks, not again!" Sirius cried as he saw she'd tripped on the troll's leg umbrella stand again and brought it thudding down to the floor beside her loudly.
"Why can't you just move the bloody thing and…" Tonks was cut off by the loud scream as suddenly a pair of curtains were flung open and the livid portrait of Mrs. Black began screeching at the top of her lungs, like normal, causing the Fairy Tail members to clap their hands over their ears and almost fell over at the sudden shock.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Gray bellowed.
"FIENDS! MUDBLOODS AND FILTH! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE THIS INSTANT! FREAKS!" the painting howled, pointing straight at Juvia. "YOU'RE BRINGING IN BLUE-HAIRED WEIRDOS NOW! YOU'VE SOILED THIS HOUSE'S REPUTATION FOR TOO LONG, YOU DISGUSTING VERMIN!"
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP, YOU REPULSIVE HAG!" Sirius roared as he thundered over to try and pull the curtains back over the portrait.
"AAAGH! JUVIA'S EARS!" Juvia wailed.
"WHAT IS THAT!?" Lisanna shouted.
"I AM THE RIGHTFUL OWNER OF THIS HOUSE!" Mrs. Black was practically foaming at the house. "LEAVE NOW AND NEVER DISGRACE MY HALLWAY AGAIN! HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS ALL OF YOU!"
"SHUT THE F*** UP!" Gray roared, slamming his hands together. "ICE MAKE: WALL!"
Sirius leapt back and Mrs. Black screamed as suddenly her entire portrait was covered from top to bottom with a thick layer of ice, cutting of her screams instantly. The quiet was almost as deafening as the noise but Sirius blinked a few times and sighed in relief.
"Now that is a handy trick," he said. "Shame that ice will melt eventually."
"Only if you put fire or something else hot close to it," Gray grinned. "Otherwise that should stay there for a good long while."
Sirius stared at Gray with his jaw slack, for a moment before he said, "Seriously, Gray… I could kiss you right now."
Gray snorted but Juvia suddenly flared up and growled, "Kiss him!? Is Sirius-san another love rival of Juvia's!"
"Oh for crying out loud…" Gray smacked a hand to his face.
"This happen often?" Tonks whispered to Lisanna, pointing at the bristling Water Mage and the nonplussed Sirius.
"From what I know… all the time."
"Ah."
Gajeel grunted sourly as he paced over the rugged turf, kicking the rocks out of his way even it they were as big as he was. He'd been scouting around this place for hours now, always trying to find a way to get closer to the castle but always being pulled up short.
And his mood wasn't being helped by Charla's increasing fretting. While totally understandable, it was grating on his nerve - the white cat was desperate to head to the castle on her own and find Wendy since whatever was keeping Gajeel out seemed to have no effect on the Exceed, but Lily and Happy both pointed out that they should wait to have Gajeel for backup just in case the people of the castle weren't friendly. Lily himself was not really in a condition to fight right now. His burns were not healing as well as they normally would. Perhaps there was some magic in that dragon's fire that was causing its effects to last longer.
The thought made Gajeel want to backtrack and beat the crap out of the dragons himself but Mavis pointed out to him that these dragons didn't know any better. They were not like Metalicana. They were just animals here.
Speaking of Mavis she was currently nowhere in sight, meaning Gajeel and the Exceed were skirting around the castle by themselves for the moment. But that didn't last long, as the ghost suddenly hovered into view and alighted on the ground before the Iron Dragon Slayer.
"Tell me you've found a way in," Gajeel murmured.
"Not exactly," Mavis shook her head, her long blond hair swaying rhythmically behind her. "My analysis of the wards leads me to conclude that the castle is completely surrounded by them just as we suspected. I've also been able to conclude that there are a few places where you would be able to get through them unimpeded, the tunnel into the lake that Wendy used being one of them. Of course that one we cannot reach and I have not yet located any of the others. But, I believe I have located a weak spot you might possibly be able to get through."
"Then lead the way," Charla pressed immediately. "We can't waste a single second."
"Charla's right. Let's go!" Happy lifted into the air and shot off.
"Happy… it's that way!" Mavis called out before he could get far and pointed off to the cat's right.
"Oh…" Happy grinned sheepishly. "I knew that."
Gajeel bounded after Mavis so hard his feet were cracking the ground whenever he passed over rock, until eventually Mavis pulled to a stop and pointed ahead.
"I can only assume that that's the main entrance," she said, pointing to a set of large metal gates set in a high stone wall - a long dirt road winding across the ground towards it and through it and two statues of boars with great sweeping wings sitting on the columns flanking the gates. "The wards are a little weaker here, presumably because they had to let people in at this point while the rest of the castle is better protected to prevent people coming in from unexpected angles.
Gajeel marched forwards towards the gates and said, "Alright then. I'm going to try smashing my way again!"
"No, that still won't work," Mavis shook her head. "I've analysed the defences here and although the magic here is quite different to what I'm used to I am able to discern some of it. There's spells woven into the gates to prevent them from being forced open, smashed or knocked off their hinges. Similarly there are defences designed to keep people from climbing or flying over them or the walls on either side of them, and even protection against tunnelling underneath. Clearly whoever wove those wards only wants those gates to be opened with the use of the right key.
"Well then, how is Gajeel supposed to get through here?" Charla asked.
"Do you think that if you unleashed your full power, Gajeel, you might be able to break through the spells as well as the gates?" Lily asked from where he was clinging to Gajeel's shoulder.
Gajeel said nothing for a moment, but then a wide, savage grin spread out across his face. "Geehee! I dunno," he claimed. "But I bet I have a way in that these wards don't block."
And he marched straight up to the gates, cracking his knuckles as he went. Mavis and the Exceed watched him silently, wondering what he was going to do. Gajeel stopped right next to the gates and took hold of the bars in his hands, inspecting them shrewdly.
"Wrought iron," he laughed. "Piece of cake. And I was getting hungry anyway!" And he suddenly lunged forwards and sank his teeth into one of the bars. The iron splintered under his fangs and broke, leaving Gajeel to chew and swallow noisily before taking another bite, then another and another, attacking the bars in front of him almost at random and starting to create a hole in the gate.
"Of course," Happy grinned. "No way that anything made of metal is going to stop the Iron Dragon Slayer."
"Wow, I guess the wards were not prepared for this," Charla noted.
"No, indeed they are not," Mavis laughed. "I don't think that whoever cast them ever thought to cast something to prevent someone from eating their way through their doors."
Gajeel cackled slightly as he gripped another bar in his teeth and munched his way merrily through it. In practically no time flat he'd created a hole large enough for him to step through as long as her both ducked and raised his legs. Gripping the bars that remained he quickly pushed his way through the hole, encountering no resistance whatsoever.
He was in.
"Take that, wards," Gajeel laughed. "I told you you couldn't keep me out. Come on, you lot. Let's go find Wendy."
"Right behind you, Gajeel," Happy cheered as he whooshed into the air and followed Gajeel through the hole he'd made, Charla and Mavis right behind him as Gajeel bolted up the path.
Towards Hogwarts.